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I've been walking along this stretch every day now to check on the progress and waiting for it to open. This is another "what's taking so long" project. The noticeable differences day to day seems like there's one guy working on it. It's like, a couple more pavers here, a basketball net there. I'm sure it's more than that but....let us in! It looks fantastic.

The folks at Hudson River Park Trust told me the other day that the "ribbon cutting" for this section is dependent upon the schedules of the Mayor & others. They need to coordinate so all can be on hand to share in the glory -- and, of course, the photo op.

Hence the lack of a hard date.

Right now the HRPT website says says the opening will be "later in 2008".

But the other day a fellow at the edge of the park wearing a very nifty HRP polo shirt and driving a HRP cart claimed that it would be sometime on or around July 22 ...

I know the exact corner stone piece you're talking about, and also noticed when they finally installed it. They unwrapped the magnifying viewer thingys and painted the HRP logo in the center of the basketball court. There's still a light pole with electrical wires sticking out and garbage to clean up, but that's pretty much it from what you can see from the bike path. Probably there will be new garbage cans, and I'm thinking tables and chairs in the two cinder patios, or some sort of furniture for those areas like they have in other segments of the park.

A bed of black-eyed Susan has been planted alongside a boardwalk that meanders through a field showing varieties of grasses. (Photo: David W. Dunlap/The New York Times) See the Slide Show

Just when few things seem as precious as catching a cool riverfront breeze, there is a whole new stretch of riverfront where New Yorkers can catch one.

A nine-block section of the Hudson River Park, skirting TriBeCa from Laight Street to King Street, opens to the public Wednesday after a $16.3 million reconstruction. The Hudson River Park Trust, the city-state corporation in charge of the project, said the completion of this segment marks the halfway point in the development of the park, which runs from Battery Place to West 59th Street.

Strollers will find an 893-foot-long boardwalk meandering up and down through rows of grasses and flowers. Basketball players will find a new court just south of Pier 34. Birdwatchers will find free telescopes mounted at the foot of Pier 32, overlooking a field of pilings that is home — or at least a waystation — to gulls, geese and cormorants. Art lovers will find a group of galvanized steel sculptures by Mark Gibian of Brooklyn, deliberately recalling fish skeletons and ship’s ribbing.

Those seeking no more than a seat under a bit of shade will find little bosks along the way, planted with Japanese zelkova, a disease-resistant member of the elm family. Truth to tell, the young ones at Hudson River Park need a few years before they provide a truly cooling canopy.

And for those breezes, there is the esplanade, with granite paving, honey locusts, World’s Fair benches (the ones with the circular arms) and lampposts based on those found along the Triborough Bridge. “That’s really the thread that ties it all together,” said Connie Fishman, president of the Hudson River Park Trust, during an inspection tour on Tuesday.

Upland from the esplanade, she said, the designers are given more latitude. The TriBeCa segment, which stops just short of the enormous Pier 40 at West Houston Street, was designed by Sasaki Associates of Watertown, Mass., and Mathews Nielsen of Manhattan. It was built by the Turner Construction Company.

Elsewhere along the park’s length, a long-running battle continues over the future of Pier 40. The trust has recently issued a request for proposals for Pier 57, which has also been the scene of struggle over redevelopment. Pier 25 is under construction and should be finished in the spring of 2010, Ms. Fishman said. Pier 26 is also under construction, but no completion date has been set because not all the needed money is budgeted.

With all of the challenges and controversies posed by the pier projects, Ms. Fishman seemed grateful for a chance to walk along the almost pristine TriBeCa esplanade, showing her proprietary side by picking up a few stray plastic bottles. Peering through the telescope at the remaining pilings for Pier 32, where steamships of the Hudson Navigation Company once tied up, she was delighted to spy a couple of cormorants.

She was less delighted to see a couple of everyday citizens mingled among the workers, meaning that someone had left a construction fence unlocked. But though they weren’t really supposed to be there on Tuesday, Ms. Fishman was in no mood to shoo them out. In fact, she seemed grateful to see that the park was attracting visitors even before its time.

Perhaps the greatest crowds will gather around the basketball court, which Ms. Fishman said had been built to National Collegiate Athletic Association standards. “You can play a regulation game on it, other than N.B.A.,” she said, “which — you know — you have to make sacrifices.” She envisions “really great neighborhood games” unfolding there.

There will be no charge for the use of the court. The tennis courts at the north end of the TriBeCa segment, which are already open, are also free.

“As long as we can afford to,” Ms. Fishman said, “that’s the way we’re going to keep it.”

Financing for the TriBeCa segment came from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. Diana L. Taylor, chairwoman of the trust, said in a telephone interview that the use of 9/11-related federal money was appropriate.

“Lower Manhattan is in the middle of construction,” she said, “and it is not the most pleasant place to be.”

“When people move down here to live and work,” Ms. Taylor said, “they need some room for recreation, too; to relax, take in the river, go boating, walk, bike, sit and read, walk their dogs. Constructing buildings is one thing. You can construct all the buildings you want, but if there’s not somewhere to go that’s gorgeous and takes you out onto the river, the quality of life is not as good as it could be.”

My only argument with the design for this stretch is that from the higher points of the boardwalk there's little separation from the mass of autos right below on West Street -- and seemingly few trees which will grow to create a barrier there. Probably a security decision.

My only argument with the design for this stretch is that from the higher points of the boardwalk there's little separation from the mass of autos right below on West Street -- and seemingly few trees which will grow to create a barrier there. Probably a security decision.

Nail on the head. The new park is nice - the cedar boardwalk planks smell great - but it makes you appreciate how much better a job was done blocking the highway with plantings in the Greenwich Village and the 29th to 26th street "natural habitat" sections. Those areas feel like the wilderness compared to Tribeca. HRPT needs to plant a much thicker buffer to keep down noise and air pollution from the highway.

I think you should give it a chance to grow.
You'll see that a lot of those short grasses next to the boardwalk, will get really tall- blocking out the highway.
Up where it's looks wild looked just like this when it was first put down.